


coffee shop soundtrack

by punkcowboy



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Fluff, M/M, Mistaken Identity, Panic Attack, Soulmate Tattoos, Soulmates, Soulmates AU, anxiety is anxious, coffee shop AU, meet cute, patton is a good friend, who woulda thunk it, with a lil bit of angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-12
Updated: 2019-01-12
Packaged: 2019-10-09 01:31:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17397524
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/punkcowboy/pseuds/punkcowboy
Summary: In a world where your soulmate’s name is written on your wrist, Virgil may or may not have found his in the cute barista at Starbucks. However, there is the small issue that the barista keeps getting his goddamn name wrong.Angst, anxiety, and vague hilarity ensues.





	1. caramel macchiato

**Author's Note:**

> rated teen due to: swearing (that’s it lol)
> 
> hope y’all enjoy! First fic in this fandom, and first fic using this soulmates AU idea that has been stuck in my head for ages
> 
> at the moment the title is the name of a song by All Time Low that I absolutely love but that may change if I think of something else :)

Virgil was so. Freaking. _Tired_. And late. But mostly tired.

Patton, bless his kind yet in this instance misguided soul, had managed to convince him to stay up till 3am watching Brooklyn Nine Nine and, while he hadn’t minded at the time- it was funny and made Patton happy and at least it wasn’t Parks and Rec _again_ , _lord_ _have_ _mercy_ \- he was now running late for an early morning lecture, and he had zero (zero) caffeine in his system.

He hated that he was the exact stereotype of a stressed, sleep deprived and coffee dependant university student, and while he could potentially start a protest against the amount of stress put on young people to do well at school and force themselves to pursue higher education without really knowing about the other options that are available for fear of seeming ‘lesser’ for choosing any other path and work themselves to the bone doing what they think they should be doing rather than thinking about what would make them happy- it was too early for that, and he just wanted some coffee, preferably now.

Which is how he found himself stumbling into a Starbucks at 8:30AM on a Tuesday morning.

He hated this place. They were always crowded, the line up to the counter was always narrow and cramped, with everyone sighing loudly and checking their watches and jostling each other as if that would make the queue go any faster, it was far too loud inside with everyone talking over each other and the baristas never- ever- got his name right. He preferred to make his coffee at home and put it in a flask to take with him if he needed to, but, well, desperate times call for desperate measures. And Virgil was most definitely desperate right now.

So, he waited patiently in line, when he saw a pair in front of him holding hands and -what he presumed were- each other’s names on their wrists, red roses twirling up one of the girl’s arm, and sunflowers going round the others. He looked self- consciously down at his own wrist, where the name ‘Logan’ was written out in small, neat uppercase letters, but no other markings in sight.

The whole soulmate thing was a lovely idea, he grudgingly admitted, although with a lot of flaws. He didn’t like the idea of searching only for your ‘One’ and never dating anyone else- and although it’s comforting to know that there’s supposedly someone out there that’s perfect for you in every way, yahdahyahdah, it irritated him when people acted as if meeting your soulmate was the best thing that could ever happen, and everything after then is just perfect. It’s not like there would be a magical switch when you meet your soulmate and the world is suddenly all sunshine and rainbows.

Also, maybe he’s just a little bit bitter that he’s 22 and still hadn’t met his soulmate.

He was a little glad about it- he knew that he would find a way to mess it up, what with his anxiety and panic attacks and all that fun stuff, he would just be a burden to this Logan guy, after all. Maybe it’d be better if they never m-

“Hi, welcome to Starbucks. May I take your order?”

Jolted out of his train of thought, Virgil realised he’d somehow made it to the front of the line and oh _shit_ _he_ _was_ _not_ _prepared_ _for_ _this_ _fuck_ _whatdidhewantagainfuckfuckfuck_

 _Ok_. Breathe, _Virgil_.

“Could I get a, uh, small cara-A small caramel macchiato. Please.” He finally managed to stutter out, not once looking up.

“Of course. Could I get a name for that, sir?”

Whoops. Virgil looked up at the barista, looking at everything around him to avoid eye contact. Till. He had glasses on, a blue tie under his green apron, a name tag that said ‘ _Logan_ ’,

“Yea. Yea, sorry, it’s-“

He stopped short, his brain finally catching up with his what he’d just seen. It couldn’t be-could it? He looked at the barista wide eyed. Of course not, don’t be stupid Virg-

“Sorry I didn’t catch that? What’s your name?”

Now or never. Here goes nothing, just suck it up Virgil get it over with,

“‘M Virgil,” he mumbled, looking up at the barista through his bangs, searching for a reaction. Was he surprised? Disappointed? Oh go-

“Coming right up sir, that’ll be $5.20 please.”

Huh.

“Um. Yea, yea here you go.”

The rest of the interaction went by fairly painlessly. Virgil silently cursed himself as he went to stand and wait for his drink. Why had he gotten his hopes up so quickly? He’d jumped to conclusions, he can’t get so nervous around every person he meets called Logan, it would be irrational to assume that it was his soulmate every single time. He snorted at how ironic it was-he was so cynical of soulmates yet when faced with the possibility that he could be meeting his, hebecomes a blushing, stuttering idiot.

It didn’t matter, anyway. This Logan obviously didn’t have his name, as he had next to no reaction other than to ask him to pay for his drink and _goddamnit_ the poor guy probably thought he was some sort of weirdo.

His already sour mood made decidedly worse, he waited sullenly for his coffee. This was taking far too long, even for a Starbucks, but he still hadn’t heard his name. Looking over to the serving section, he saw a lone coffee that nobody had claimed. Glancing around, he saw no-one going for it and so, heart beating fast, he went up to check what it was. Sure enough, it was a small caramel macchiato, but the name on the side said ‘ _Victor_ ’.

His eyes widened. Maybe the barista had misheard him? Maybe that was why he hadn’t reacted. Maybe he was his-

 _Stop_ , _Virgil_. _Don’t_ _get_ _ahead_ _of_ _yourself_ _here_.

He looked around again, but could see no other guy waiting- there was a group of teenage girls huddled together, a woman in a business suit checking her watch and talking quickly on her phone, and a harried looking woman with a toddler and a screaming baby in a pram. He didn’t like to assume, but none of them looked like a Victor.

Maybe it was Victoria? Behind the counter, his barista was still there. The queue had quietened down a little, and Virgil found Logan looking directly at him from just behind the counter. When had he gotten so close? His colleague had taken over at the till Logan had been at, and so it didn’t look like Logan was currently doing anything urgent. In fact, it looked like he was waiting for Virgil to say something to him...

Virgil swallowed, and opened his mouth to speak, but it had gone dry. Logan spoke instead, but he didn’t quite catch it. Fuck, this store was loud.

“Sorry, uh. What was that?” he stuttered out.

Logan rolled his eyes, and Virgil shrank in on himself.

“I _said_ , that’s your drink. Is there something wrong with it?”

And oh. Ok then.

“I’m. Um, no. No it’s perfect, thanks. Sorry.”

Logan was definitely irritated.

“Alright. Have a nice day, sir.” at that he turned back to the queue, the second barista having abandoned the till. He sighed, before shouting off to somewhere in the back of the store, “Roman, what on Earth are you doing back there? People are waiting!”

Virgil took this as his que to leave, and walked out of the store in a daze. Logan has misheard him. That wasn’t his name on the cup. Did he have Virgil on his wrist after all? Could they still be soulmates?

He cursed himself for not even attempting to correct him. Maybe he should turn back now, but there was the slight issue that he was still late for class. Speaking of...

“Shit! Shit, shit, _shit_ fuck _damn_.” he muttered to himself, after checking his watch to find that, yup, over half an hour late. Juuust great.

At that, he took a big gulp of his scorching hot coffee, and began to run- Logan the barista becoming a distant thought in the back of his mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope you liked it! Any feedback would be greatly appreciated💓✨
> 
> (Also, would y’all like the next chapter to be from Logan’s POV, or Virgil’s the whole way through?)


	2. lemonade

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgil tells Patton what happened at Starbucks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys! thank you so much for all the support on the first chapter, you’re all so sweet and I’m glad you enjoyed it!  
> No Logan in this chapter, just Patton & Virgil being BFFs :)

One thing Virgil had found out about Patton was that he seemed to have some sort of sixth sense. No matter how late it was, or how quietly Virgil shut the door, Patton seemed to know exactly when he was coming into the apartment and was very quick to react. Virgil was sure he was superhuman.

Not that Virgil minded at all- Patton could be a bit too much for some people, but his constant positivity and seemingly endless energy was something Virgil had always found somewhat endearing. Patton, he’d decided a while ago, was exactly the type of friend he needed. He was energetic and a little goofy, but could also be serious when necessary- and was very good at it, with the best advice and knowing exactly what to say to him, always giving the right mixture between being gentle and not-putting-up-with-his-bullshit. It was for that reason, that, despite them being roughly the same age- and Patton being decidedly shorter than him- he really looked up to Patton.

Not that he would ever tell him that. Ew. _Feelings_. 

With all that, it wasn’t a surprise that Patton’s greeting was instant when Virgil got back to their apartment.

“Hey kiddo! How was your lecture?”

“Good, Good,” Virgil murmured in reply as he joined Patton at the kitchen table.

“That’s great! I made lunch, I thought we could eat together before I had to leave for work?” He phrased it like a question, but Virgil knew from experience that he wouldn’t leave until he’d eaten. “ _Family_ _bonding_ _time_ ” he called it- despite the fact that the two of them weren’t actually related. It was a little strange, but a nice sentiment.

“Thanks, Patton,” he said with a smile, pouring himself a glass of lemonade from the jug on the table, before grabbing the burger in front of him, “did you make this yourself?”

“I did! I found the recipe for the burgers in this little leaflet I got, it was so cute I couldn’t help myself so I thought I’d try it out for when you got back! And I already had the ingredients for lemonade, and I had the time, so I figured why not? Lemonade and burgers is a great combo!” Patton cleared his throat, “I also wanted to apologise for keeping you up last night, I shouldn’t have done that when I knew you had a morning lecture. Did you make it on time by the way? And how do you like the burger?”

Virgil smirked at Patton’s much-longer-than-necessary explanation, before swallowing and replying to the second question.

“It’s great Pat, really great.”

“Oh, wonderful! So,” and, _wuh_ _oh_ , Patton had his dad look on. He must’ve noticed something. “I’m guessing by the fact that you ignored my first question, that you _didn’t_ make it on time?”

Virgil shrugged noncommittally.

“Oh Virge, I’m sorry I-“

“Not your fault Pat, I stopped to get coffee on the way. I shouldn’t have, I probably could have made it otherwise,” before Patton could interrupt, he pushed on, “but, in my defence, there was no way I’d be able to focus on the lecture otherwise.”

“Well I can’t fault you on that! Where’d you get your coffee?” Patton smiled warmly at him.

It was this that finally reminded Virgil of the _goddamn_ _barista_. He felt the blood drain from his face at the memory, and cleared his throat quickly in an attempt to distract Patton from the fact that he’d probably just turned as white as a ghost.

“Um, Starbucks.” he managed to choke out.

Patton’s forehead creased with worry, “what happened? Did you have a panic attack in the shop?”

“No, no, nothing like that,” he rushed out. God, sure he’d freaked out a bit, but that was generally just his default. A full blown panic attack, however, would have been _truly_ awful, “I just, uh, maybe met a Logan?”

“Oh!” Patton’s face cleared, doing a poor job at concealing his excitement, “was he your-?”

“I don’t know.”

“What do you mean?” the frown was back.

Great, now he would have to explain everything. 

“He was my, uh, barista so I saw his name tag and theoretically it should have been easy to tell, because y’know, Starbucks. He didn’t react when I told him my name to put on the cup, so I thought that was it? But then, well,” Virgil sighed, “he got my name wrong? So now I don’t know if we are soulmates, and the only reason we aren’t all happy and flowered up right now is because he didn’t get my name, or if we actually aren’t and I’m getting worked up over nothing.”

Virgil’s breathing has gotten ragged during his speech, so he took a moment to get it back to regular before opening his eyes and seeing Patton’s reaction.

Patton simply looked thoughtful. “Well,” he said eventually, “I guess we’ve just gotta go back and find out.”

Virgil just blinked back at him owlishly.

“We can’t,” he spluttered out eventually.

“And why not?”

“Well. Uh.”

Patton clapped his hand together before Virgil could come up with a good enough excuse, smiling widely.

“There, see? You have no reason not to! Just go in tomorrow and tell him your actual name. Best case scenario, he is your soulmate and you’ll both know and can work it out from there. Worst case scenario? He isn’t, which might be a bit disappointing but you’ll have confirmation! It’s win/win really!”

Patton was practically beaming, and god _damnit_ this man was smart. Sometimes Virgil was surprised by how logical he could be.

The only fault in his plan was that this was _Virgil_ he was talking about.

“I can think of a whole lot of scenarios that could be worse than that.” He argued, “for one, what if he’s mad at me for not telling him my name to begin with? What if he doesn’t want a soulmate? What if he doesn’t want _me_ as a soulmate? What if-?”

“Now, Virgil,” Patton said sternly, “don’t start doing the ‘what ifs’. If he’s truly your soulmate, then of course he’ll want you. If he’s not, then again, at least you’ll have confirmation. Better to give it a shot than to spend your life not knowing!”

Virgil could argue again. In his opinion, settling with not knowing is a lot safer and easier than putting yourself out there and giving in to the chance of being ridiculed or humiliated or shamed. Staying quiet was always safer. But, looking at Patton’s hopeful face, he couldn’t find it in himself to bring him down. So, still a little reluctantly, he nodded in agreement.

Maybe Patton was right. What harm could it really do?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope you enjoyed this lil update!! Again, any feedback would be greatly appreciated💓✨


	3. small black coffee

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> trigger warning: panic attack  
> happens about halfway through- it’s pretty short, and is seperate from the main body but the lead up to it is within the main story if that makes sense. If you don’t think you’ll be able to read this chapter, I’ll be putting a recap of it at the bottom soon anyway.
> 
> Sorry the wait was so long! I’ve been writing in between exams and school work so haven’t had much time :( Here it is though! Hope you enjoy :)
> 
> xo

__Patton was wrong. This could definitely do a lot of harm.

Maybe not in the grand scheme of things, but Virgil’s already dramatically low self-esteem could definitely take a major hit.

However, Patton would no longer take no for an answer. Stubborn prat.

So, Virgil found himself standing outside Starbucks the very next day. Patton has offered to come with him on another day, but he didn’t want to bother him too much with his bullshit so he made up an excuse as to why it HAD to be the very next day- which just so happened to be the one day a week that Patton was working all day and had no chance of swapping shifts. What a definitely awful coincidence, huh?

The experience when he finally gathered up the courage to step into the shop felt a lot like déjà vu- cramped, crowded, and far too loud. He’d managed to catch the midday rush, when everyone and their mother seemed to be on their lunch break.

_Great timing, Virge. Way to help calm the social anxiety. Make sure the shop is as busy as possible, that’ll work out just great for you._

Looking towards the counter he saw that Logan was indeed on duty today, and so there went his only valid excuse for leaving without ordering anything.

He decided to order a small black coffee- keep it simple, so it stays straight in his head. He generally liked his coffee a bit sweeter- despite liking the aesthetic of being able to say he liked his coffee as black as his soul, it simply wasn’t true.

Still, doing it this time would be easier. He could always load it with sugar when he got home (because there was no way he was doing it at that little counter in-store. Today was stressful enough as it was, so fuck that)

The queue got shorter and shorter, and Virgil was finding it harder and harder to breathe.

_Just a few more steps, Virge. You’ve got this. It’s gonna be ok, just tell him your actual make and everything will be fine._

Three steps to the counter, only one person in front of him.

_Breathe. Don’t freak out. You’ve got this._

Maybe this was a bad idea. He could still turn around and leave, right? No big deal.

_No. No backing out now, you’re nearly there._

“Next order please!”

 _Go_ _time_.

Virgil stepped up to the counter.

“Welcome to Starbucks, what can I get for you today?”

Logan’s speech was clipped, just like before. The words he spoke were crisp and clear- almost cold, but not quite harsh.

Virgil cleared his throat.

“I would like a small black coffee please.”

Logan raised an eyebrow at him. “Do you mean short? That’s the smallest cup we carry.”

Right. Starbucks cup sizes. Shit.

“I- yeah, sorry, I for- I forgot they were different here. Sorry.” Virgil spluttered out, rubbing the back of his neck.

Logan nodded at him, before grabbing the correct size. “No problem, sir. Happens all the time. Could I get a name for that please?”

Ah. OK. Logan didn’t remember him.

There was no reason he would- people were coming in and out all day, every day, there was no way he would be expected to learn everybody’s name. Plus, yesterday was the only time he’d been in and so, logically, it made sense that he wouldn’t remember him.

Still. It felt strange, considering the fact that Virgil had been obsessing over their conversation for over 24 hours.

 _At_   _least_ , he thought, _it gives me a chance to start over._ _Properly_.

“Of course. Um, my name is Virgil.”

He looked up at Logan, trying to gauge his reaction. This was the moment of truth- either Logan had his name, and they’d talk and Virgil would have _found_ _his_ _soulmate_. Or, he didn’t have his name, and Virgil would go home and everything would go back to normal. Sure, he’d be a little disappointed, but at least he’d _know_.

 _Breathe_ , _Virgil._ _In_. _Out_.

“Thank you, sir, that’ll be ready in a moment.”

Virgil’s heart stuttered to a stop.

 _Fuck_.

Virgil nodded, and stepped to the side.

 _In_. _Out_.

Tears prickled at the corners of his eyes, but he refused to let himself cry in front of so many people. Not today. His order would only take a couple of minutes and he could leave. Go home and cry if he wanted, and that would be ok.

But fuck, he didn’t think he would be so upset about this. Sure, Logan was cute, and maybe he had gotten his hopes up a bit, but his own reaction surprised him- he’d always told himself that soulmates weren’t that big of a deal. And yet, here he was, about to have a breakdown in the middle of a Starbucks about something he’d always told himself didn’t matter.

Really, though- if he was being honest with himself- it did. Virgil- he’d always felt like he was on his own. He loved his family, who’d always been supportive of him and his choices- when he came out, they stood by his side. They continued to be supportive when he was diagnosed with depression and anxiety, and then again when he chose to major in English Lit at university despite having a line of doctors on either side of his family. Patton, too, had stood by his side for years, taking him under his wing and treating him like a brother. Or son, really- but that was a little weird.

Still. He felt like such a _burden_. He fucked things up, he was a mess of a human, and put these people through so much shit and yet they loved him, pretty much unconditionally, when they _shouldn’t_. They just. Shouldn’t.

A soulmate, though. It’s literally written on their skin- they were the people who loved you, truly loved you- flaws and all. Maybe, Virgil could accept that love without feeling guilty about it. After all, they were supposedly the perfect person for you, and everyone Virgil knew who’d met their soulmate was so goddamn _happy_ \- unburdened in their love. So, yeah, maybe Virgil wanted some of that.

Eyes blurry, and ears ringing, he saw Logan put down a drink on the counter, saying someone’s name but it was so _fucking_ loud _that he couldn’t hear him and everyone was talking and the music was way too loud and-_

 _In_. _Out_.

Logan was looking at him now, pointing down at the drink on the counter. The message was clear- that was his coffee, ready and waiting.

He made his way forward, and went to take the cup, but his hand was shaking too hard. Instead he put it down on the counter and closed his eyes, taking deep breaths. When he’d got his breathing under control, he opened his eyes to see Logan still standing there staring at him with worry written all across his face. Great, now he was being pitied- that’s just so fucking great. They locked eyes, Virgil’s dark brown meeting Logan’s piercing blue, and everything seemed to slow down around him, just a little. Like it was just him and Logan, the two of them frozen in time together. Logan’s face seemed to clear, the worried look gone, and Virgil had a single, traitorous, second where he thought “this could be it” before remembering that Logan _didn’t_ _have_ _his_ _name_. And everything came rushing back, the world coming back in at full pelt and Virgil looked away again, overwhelmed. Logan finally, finally started to speak-

“Hey, are you-“

And. OK. Maybe it was cruel, but Virgil needed to get out, everything was _too_ _much_. His breathing was ragged, hand still shaking uncontrollably. He grabbed the cup as firmly as he could and all but ran out of the shop, leaving Logan behind with the rest of his sentence still hanging in the air.

—

Getting back to the apartment was a blur- Virgil would be lying if he said he remembered any of it. Luckily he knew the route home like the back of his hand, and so he could put all his energy into trying to stay calm.

Remember what Patton said. In through the nose, hold for three. Breathe out slowly. Repeat.

Someway, somehow, he made it home.

He put his coffee down on the table, and locked the door, hands still shaking. Once locked he leaned forward and pressed his head against the wood. Breathing was becoming harder and harder; his throat constricted and although he tried to stick with taking deep breaths it wasn’t working and they were getting shorter and more panicked by the second.

_Come on Virgil, come on. Get it together. This doesn’t matter._

_In. Out._

_You’re right- it doesn’t matter. You’re pathetic. Youre a freak, a mess who’s gotten himself worked up_   _over_ _nothing. You’re soulmate will never want you._

Turning around, he sank to the floor and pulled his knees to his chest, covering his ears, eyes closed.

 _In. Out. In. Out. In.Out._   _InOutInOutInOutInOut_ - _Shit_.

The dam broke, and all of a sudden he was crying, loud hiccuping sobs that tore through his chest. No stop in sight, as always was the case. Patton wasn’t home. There was no one to talk him through this. He was on his own.

Curled up in a ball on the floor, sobs wrenching through him, he waited.

_

Virgil lost track of time. Maybe it had only been a couple minutes, maybe hours had passed by. Either way, he had stopped crying at some point, tears gone dry. His breathing had returned to normal. He was exhausted, feeling shaky still, but at least it was over.

Sitting up, he wiped his face dry and checked his phone. An hour had gone by. Fuck. That was the worst panic attack he’d had in a while.

Standing up slowly, he noticed the coffee cup still sitting on the table by the door. It would no doubt be cold by now, and he grumbled to himself about the waste of money before picking it up and heading to the bin.

Right as he was about to drop it in, he noticed what was written on the side.

 _No_. _Fucking_. _Way_.

Checking closer, he knew he was right. Written on the side of the cup, was the name ‘ _Vincent_ ’.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The support for this story has been crazy, thank you so much! 
> 
> Again though, I’m sorry for the wait. Hopefully updates will be a bit quicker from now on (although I make no promises- BUT I’m definitely going to finish this, so you can be assured that I’m not going to abandon it!)
> 
> Sidenote, how do y’all feel about the new Sanders Sides video? I loved it so much, although the lack of Logan was a lil upsetting :((( A lot more Deceit content though, which was awesome! Also, could never be disappointed with a 45 MINUTE LONG SANDERS SIDES VIDEO HOLY CRAP
> 
> As always, any feedback would be greatly appreciated♥️♥️♥️


End file.
